On the 27th October NES Residency presented Soundscapes: an open-studio exhibition of new works by Georgina Criddle (Australia) and Dario Lazzaretto (Italy), showcasing video projections, sound-art and sculptural installations created by the artists during their stay in Skagaströnd.

In the garden of found objects of Placido Este, assembly, mixed materials, variable dimension, 2011, Iceland, Dario Lazzaretto

Winding – installation, group of three aeolian harps, various material, variable dimension, 2011, Iceland, Dario Lazzaretto

Alarm mode (WE-YOU), video, 1’55”, 2011, Iceland, Dario Lazzaretto

Alarm mode (WE-YOU), video, 1’55”, 2011, Iceland, Dario Lazzaretto

Alarm mode (WE-YOU), video, 1’55”, 2011, Iceland, Dario Lazzaretto

You can now see the map of Skagaströnd to get a feel for the town. In addition to what is on this map, Skagastönd is home to an active fishing port, a machine shop, a fishing net factory, a carpentry shop, a garment factory and an electrician´s shop.

NES Artist Residency is excited to put a call out to film makers interested in working with the community to create a retrospective film in either January or February 2012. Skagastrond’s preschool will be celebrating its 35th year anniversary and is looking to work with a film maker to commemorate the occasion, by filming current and past students as well as others in the community. NES will award a full stipend to the film maker chosen for the project.

All interested applicants should go to neslist.is and apply. When sending in the additional materials please describe how you would approach this project, your unique visions and the direction you would take.

Please consider in your application how you would deal with the language barrier. If there is interview work in this film it would be in Icelandic and not everyone here speaks english.

The deadline for submission is December 5. If you are interested please apply at this link http://neslist.is/application/how-to-apply/ and state that you are applying for this stipend in your cover letter.

This grant is made possible by the generous support of Minningarsjóður um hjónin frá Garði og Vindhæli

NES, in cooperation with the University of Iceland research center and Kántrýbær, will be hosting a serse of Icelandic movies. The first of these will be Friday night at 21:30.

NES Listamiðstöð, Rannsóknasetur Háskóla Íslands á Norðurlandi vestra og Kántrýbær ætla á næstu misserum að standa fyrir kvikmyndasýningum á Skagaströnd.
Sýningarnar verða í Kántrýbæ og mun fyrsta myndin verða sýnd n.k. föstudagskvöld kl 21:30.

Heimildarmyndin Jón og séra Jón eftir Steinþór Birgisson.
Nánar um myndina:
Séra Jón Ísleifsson hefur verið sóknarprestur í Árnesi Ströndum í 12 ár. Hann lifir lífinu á sinn eigin sérstæða máta og af honum eru margar sögur bæði sannar og ósannar. Í kjölfar langvinnra deilna innan safnaðarins er svo komið að mikill meirihluti sóknarbarna hefur skrifað undir vantraust á séra Jón og lýst því yfir að þau vilji ekki að hann starfi lengur sem sóknarprestur í Árnesprestakalli. Er séra Jón óhæfur prestur? Eða eru aðrir kraftar að verki? Hvað sem því líður er séra Jón maður sem er staddur á miklum tímamótum.
Jón og séra Jón vann áhorfendaverðlaun Skjaldborgarhátíðarinnar í vor og hefur verið sýnd í kvikmyndahúsum við miklar vinsældir.

Miðaverð 1.250 kr

On the 27th October NES Residency presents Soundscapes; an open-studio exhibition of new works by  Georgina Criddle (Australia) and Dario Lazzaretto (Italy). Showcased from 3pm and 8pm will be video projections, sound-art and sculptural installations created by the artists during their stay in Skagaströnd.

Also on display at the NES studios will be Conjunction a curatorial project by Annika Bastacky and Georgina Criddle.

This question is often asked, and many people assume that the best time of year is the summer as it is light all of the time. People also assume that the winter is not a good time to come because it is cold and dark all of the time. Fortunately, in the winter, neither of these are true! While it can be cold in the winter, the average daily temperature is actually very similar to that than New York City. Furthermore, due to the angle of the earth relative to the sun, sunset and sunrise actually take a very long time, often more than two hours. These long periods of time produce deep colors in the sky and the landscape that you do not see in the lower latitudes.

The other opportunity you have in the winter is to see the northern lights. In order to see these light you need a dark and clear sky. The best time of year to see the aurora borealis is between October and March, believe it or not by April there is too much light in the night sky! Here is a picture to wet your artistic appetites of the auroras shinning over our Spákonufell mountain above Skagaströnd. Come to NES and check out our light.

Guest Blogger: Hideki Arichi, September Artist in Residence

Last Wednesday 14th September, the weather was really fine and fearing that it may be the last of the fine weather I went up the mountain with Joseph. We got a lift to the local golf club which faces the North Route up the mountain. The technical data in the leaflet is as follows:

Distance: 3.3km to the top

Duration: 2 hours to the top

Landscape: Steep but fairly easy

Elevation: 570m

Highest Point: 639m

So off we set without the leaflet with the map in it…after a wrong turn at the base and 2o minutes wandering and muttering on the flat we found the start of the route and passed a water tank…

A rather odd sight…we carried on although it was evident who was the old man out of the two us as I found myself watching Joseph open up a sizable gap on me yet he was still in sight.

He’d rest and wait so by the time I’d catch up, he’d had a good 10 minute rest!

It did start to get steeper at some points and there was still a little bit of snow up there from the previous 5 days. This is Joseph just before he started jumping up and down in the snow which apparently gave him an incredible sense of pleasure.

On we went at some points in the shade the ground was still a little frozen or a little slippery.

Getting closer to the top now…

The top is called Borgarhausinn its a huge mossy plain much larger than you imagine from just seeing the side from down below. Its a curious texture when you walk on it, yielding under your weight but springing back into place when you lift your foot.

We found the chest! Well alright not THE treasure chest but one with a guestbook where we both signed our names. I have numerous pictures from up at the top but somehow they don’t seem as good as being up there nor do they quite capture that sense of accomplishment that comes with walking up to the top.

To continue reading this post (and see more pictures) please see Hideki’s blog.

Nes listamiðstöð býður ykkur að koma í pálínuboð í Nesi listamiðstöð fimmtudaginn 13. október klukkan 19:30. Allir velkomnir.

Pálínuboð fara þannig fram að það koma allir með eitthvað gott að borða og slegið er upp hlaðborði. Þið getið til dæmis komið með uppáhalds fiskréttin ykkar, pottrétt eða bara eitthvað sem ykkur langar að deila með okkur hinum.

Þetta er kjörið tækifæri til að hitta listamenn mánaðarins og kynna fyrir þeim lífið í litlum bæ á íslandi.

Endilega komið með alla fjölskylduna við verðum með eitthvað skemmtilegt að gera fyrir krakkana.

Nes artist residency invites the community of Skagaströnd to a potluck on Thursday, October 13th, at 7:30 pm. Everyone is welcome.

This is a great opportunity to meet the artists and share about life in Skagaströnd and Iceland.

Nes Artist Residency wants to hire a project manager in 50 % position at the residency. The project manager takes care of the daily management of the residency, which includes; marketing, communications with artist, planning of events, overseeing the apartments and studios. The project manager also works with the board of Nes in planning in the future development of Nes.

The project manager will work in Skagaströnd Iceland.

Qualifications:

• University education in art or related field
• Proficient English
• Experience with in art or cultural development.
• Excellent social skills.
• Good organization skills and ability to work independently.
• Initiative, interest and enthusiasm

Application deadline is 10^th of October. Please send in an application with information about education, experience and references to Nes Artist Residency Túnbraut 1-3, 545 Skagaströnd or to halldor@biopol.is.

Further information gives Halldór G. Ólafsson in telephone: +354-452 2977 or email: halldor@biopol.is